Electronics manufacturer Qisda Corp (佳世達) plans to add another production base in Southeast Asia in addition to Vietnam as it prepares for potential trade uncertainty due to US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
The company is on the lookout for possible sites in Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines, Qisda president Joe Huang (黃漢州) said at an earnings conference in Taipei.
Because it is not easy to build a factory overseas, the company is considering setting up a local unit and renting an existing factory, Huang said.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
“The US tariff policy is bound to set off adjustments in global supply chains and Qisda has been preparing to respond flexibly, including building a resilient supply chain with multisite production,” Huang said.
Qisda — which mainly produces information technology products such as displays and projectors, industrial computers, and networking and communications devices — has production sites in Taiwan and China, and launched operations in Vietnam in 2020.
Qisda reported revenue of NT$54.1 billion (US$1.65 billion) last quarter, up 7 percent year-on-year, the highest quarterly level in the past two years.
Gross margin was 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter last year, surpassing 16 percent for seven consecutive quarters. It was the highest figure in the same period for 20 years, the company said.
However, net profit fell 55 percent year-on-year to NT$191 million due to continued booking of inventory impairment losses from its smart solutions subsidiary Metaage Corp (邁達特數位), the company said.
Earnings per share were NT$0.10, down from NT$0.22 a year earlier, it said.
For the whole of last year, revenue was down 1 percent at NT$201.7 billion, with the information technology group contributing NT$110.5 billion, up 4 percent year-on-year, while revenue at the high-value business group — including the medical and artificial intelligence of things businesses — fell 8 percent to NT$93.1 billion.
Last year’s net profit fell 27 percent to NT$2.16 billion and earnings per share dropped to NT$1.11 from NT$1.51, which the company attributed to inventory adjustments at its networking and communications customers, as well as inventory impairment losses from its business solutions subsidiary.
As the beginning of the year is usually the low season for the technology industry, Qisda expects display market demand to remain flattish this quarter, while demand for industrial PCs and security devices is expected to show steady growth.
The inventory level of the networking and communications industry is becoming healthier, with demand likely to gradually warm up, the company said.
As revenue in the first two months increased 6 percent year-on-year to NT$32.1 billion and there are positive signs this month, Qisda chairman Peter Chen (陳其宏) said that he is relatively optimistic that revenue in the first quarter would exceed that of the same period last year and expects revenue to grow in the second quarter judging from the current order visibility.
Overall revenue this year would be better than last year, he said, attributing that to strong growth momentum in the medical and artificial intelligence of things businesses, as well as a steady recovery in the display business.
The networking and communications business is expected to recover this year after suffering from inventory adjustments last year, Chen said.
Meanwhile, Qisda's board of directors approved a plan to reduce its capital by NT$3.47 billion, or 18 percent, to boost shareholder returns and earnings per share, and adjust its capital structure.
After the capital reduction, the company’s paid-in capital would fall to NT$15.8 billion from NT$19.27 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing.
As a result, Qisda plans to return NT$1.8 per share to shareholders following the capital reduction, in addition to a proposed cash dividend of NT$1.11 per share, the company said.
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